April 2019

“I joined Kuapa Kokoo because the policies are very good and it belongs to the farmers. Democracy has its own power – that’s why I wanted to join.” Nare Penten

Legal structures might not be the most exciting thing to think about, but as we within the co-operative sector know, they can be used to great effect to direct and manage business activity democratically.

We actively support – and only lend to – member owned businesses with employee and/or community ownership written into governing documents, as we know this means that all the benefits stay with the members, whether they are employees or the community, and that the business is run in accordance with what the members want.

Did you know that Divine Chocolate is the only chocolate company in the world which is 100% Fairtrade and owned by cocoa farmers?

The farmer owned co-operative behind Divine is Kuapa Kokoo – a name which means ‘good cocoa farmers’ in Twi, the language of 7 million people.

Established in 1993 with 2000 farmers, today it is Ghana’s leading producer of ethical cocoa beans with over 100,000 registered members – all smallholder cocoa farmers, within around 1,300 communities in 57 primary Societies in six cocoa growing regions. Fairtrade certified since 1995, Kuapa Kokoo is also UTZ and Rainforest Alliance certified. Two seats at the Divine Board table are held by Kuapa Kokoo representatives, ensuring that their voices are heard and they have a say in the business.

Co-operatives everywhere do so much more than trade – they are values-led businesses addressing a range of issues – and Kuapa Kokoo is no exception. Their multi-stranded income from Divine is explained in detail here and includes a ‘Fairtrade premium’ which the co-operative invests in their own projects to improve the farmers’ living, health and education standards, as well as farming productivity. This has included things like sinking bore holes, building schools and toilet blocks. With funding from Divine’s Producer Support and Development fund (2% of Divine’s annual turnover), they are committed to empowering women, for example running literacy and numeracy courses, to eliminate child labour from cocoa production, and to maintain co-operative values among members.

Furthermore, as with many co-ops, Kuapa Kokoo works in tune with their environment, not against it – no vast plantations for them, but instead, individual family farms. They know that cocoa grows best in the shade of the rainforest canopy and the humid environment the rainforest creates is best for the midges, perfectly placed pollinators.  So, with some of the profits, the farmers are actively conserving the tall forest trees – replacing old cocoa trees with new seedlings, and actually planting new hardwood trees.

So if you’re looking for a last minute Easter Egg, consider Divine – while you’re enjoying their delicious chocolate (and they have plenty of vegan options) you’ll be helping farmers like Esther have access to clean water and a more sustainable and empowered future – lifechanging stuff!

“Kuapa has also sunk a borehole in my village which means everyone now has access to clean water”  – Esther Ephraim Mintah

Join us in Bristol on the 13th June for a Networking lunch and our AGM at the Triodos Foundation 

We’ll be welcoming local and national speakers, including from Co-operatives UK  and The Bristol Cable, a 2000 member strong media co-operative, shaking up local journalism. We’re proud members of the former and proud supporters of the latter. Power to Change  and Stir to Action will be exhibiting, too.

There will be time and opportunity to hear about what we have been up to and what’s happening across the sector. We’re keeping the numbers low for this as we want it to be a real opportunity for you to freely to network and catch-up with other co-ops, old friends and members of Co-operative and Community Finance.

If you are a member of ICOF or a Co-operative and Community Finance borrower you are warmly invited, as are our friends, partners and shareholders. And if you’re none of the above, but are interested in finding out more about what we do, you are very welcome, too.

Watch this space for our Eventbrite link and more details of speakers and stallholder. There are still opportunities for both – please contact us if you’d like to be involved.

Since my role changed from Development to Investment, I don’t get out so much to meet co-ops without appraising their suitability for a loan. So it was with some pleasure that I got to attend Ways Forward 7 in Manchester recently.  Ways Forward was set up about five years ago as a response to the crisis at the Co-op Bank.  Over the years they have had some high profile speakers including Ken Loach , Rebecca Long-Bailey and John McDonnell. This year was no exception with MEP Molly Scott-Cato on the agenda.

As usual, there was an interesting programme of presentations, workshops and seminars covering subjects such as:

• How local authorities can facilitate a co-operative culture, in particular, what Preston are currently doing.
• The report by the New Economics Foundation proposing that the co-operative economy be doubled, including a fascinating presentation by Les Huckfield. Les was one of the prominent MPs responsible for the Industrial Common Ownership Act in 1976 which helped ICOF (now known as Co-op & Community Finance) with finance to lend to co-operatives. Les, a passionate supporter of worker co-ops, has seen much of what the NEF is now proposing before in the 1970s and 80s and it’s good to know that he is now advising John McDonnell.
• How mature housing co-ops can come together having paid off their mortgages to create new Housing co-ops and ensure that they stay mutual.
• Financing the co-operative economy – crowd sourcing, mutual credit etc

All interesting positive stuff, but one of the great benefits for me of being allowed out to conferences like these is the opportunity to network – talk to borrowers (old and current) to see how they’re doing, talking to co-op development people to find out what’s going on in their world and most of all talking to some new and developing co-ops; from a potential new punk venue in Sheffield, to the co-op looking at new ways of delivering homecare around Manchester.

The energy and enthusiasm of this new generation of co-operators is infectious, and as I travelled the long journey back to Southampton on a packed train I felt inspired and determined to look at how we, as a co-operative lending institution can help make things happen.

 – Ian Rothwell, Investment Manager